MY LOVE OF GARDENING!

In this post Luce takes her love of flowers 

and gardening to another level. 

This is the real thing, it is PASSION in its purist form. 

This is a perfect activity for Luce because I know 

that she adores being outside and I also know 

of her priority for the environment! Another plus ...

 she can also share this love of flowers with her LOVE!!

The JOY of GARDENING!

       by Luce Goulet

 Plants, flowers and gardening are a passion of mine.

 A few years ago, I took a course in bio-gardening for growing vegetables and flowers. I have also  designed flower beds, footpaths, patios, lawns, ponds and vegetable gardens.  This exercise requires precision and takes time, before I do the outside work.

   I take stock of and list all the living plants.  Also I have to determine where the sun will be from dawn to dusk.  I then decide my favourite colors and harmonize them with their complimentary in colors.  I select trees and  shrubs with special care and check their maturity.  I am always careful about placing and  taking care that the tall plants are  behind the smaller ones.  All this is done on paper and drawing before planting since we do not want to start over. 

   I do the  planning with reference to a gardening botanical guide.  My priority, low maintenance.  I have a lot of perennial flowers and rustic plants with long blooming flowers.  I change the colors and the style of the annuals every year.  I use huge planting pots, grass border, the space under the trees, around the pond also in the vegetable garden because some specific plants to keep away some undesirable  bugs and prowlers.

   My partner who also share my love of gardening, created the pond first with many stones and laid a geo-textile. Water adds a unique sound and brings tranquility to the garden.  It has been my best idea! The sound from the fountain provides serenity and we have spent long periods of time observing the birds drinking and bathing.

   We have the privilege of having a drip hose in the vegetable garden and in the flower beds.  We have installed probes to determine the  humidity and water levels too. The grass doesn’t need as much attention because my garden is my priority. My partner also built a system to collect rain water in four big forty-gallon drums, which in turn fills up the pond.  The huge flower pots have a system of water reservoirs to keep the soil moist and In the flower beds, the compost acts as mulch.

   I have approximately sixty different  kinds of plants but I don’t know the exact quantity because I plant them in bunches to create eye-catching blooms.  In the vegetable garden we plant seventy kinds of vegetables. 

  My partner and I use a lot of compost on the ground and mix it up because we DO believe in bio.  In the kitchen I keep all the table-scraps in two jars: one for worm composting and the other for vegetables. The worm composting is the most suitable, with this system the urine is separated from the feces. We use the worm composting to make a planting mix and the urine to fertilize.

  I’ve just recently started sowing annuals. From these seedlings I will get alyssum, begonias, coleus, verbena and some perennials. My partner has started some heritage seeds like: shallots, radishes, salads, turnips, kale, fennel, basil, Italian parsley, Espelette peppers, ground-cherries and different kinds of tomatoes and beets.

  I spend wonderful times and  magic moments observing all of them grow!  It’s inspiring to see nature grow from such small seeds to beautiful and delicious plants. 

 

It’s my favourite time of the year and 

this way  I always begin my summer earlier.